Seasons of change for Sale Cathedral

Three Springtimes chronicles the history of the 120 year-old St Mary's Cathedral from construction in 1886 to reconstruction in present times.

If you've ever wandered around the cathedral, you would know it is a majestic building, but there are hidden details which make the experience all the more interesting.

Take the carpet for example.

"There are symbols (diagrams on the carpet). The particular symbol of a sandal relates to a lovely icon which Bishop Corbett brought back from Rome in 1890 and it's an icon to Our Lady of Perpetual Help," Peter Synan told ABC Gippsland's Mornings Program.

"She is holding the Christ Child and the sandal is falling off his feet. It is thought that he is having a premonition of his own death."

The bells of St Mary's also have special significance. The book details their arrival from France.

In fact, the cathedral has a strong link to France with the first nuns brought to Sale from France by Bishop Corbett.

"He was an Irishman but also a Francophile. He'd attended school in France and he attended a seminary at Le Mans so he had this connection with French culture as well as his Irish culture," Peter Synan explained.